I think I'm now on the home run with this house, so to speak. The clearance is underway and I'm madly packing boxes (and vacuuming bits of floor that haven't seen daylight for years) so I'll be back in Wales soon.

My partner says the chickens all seem fine, the minichas have started getting out into the garden rather than hiding in the shed and the big girls have been sneaking into the kitchen and helping themselves to the cat food. Which probably accounts for why their pellets don't seem to be going down very fast. They also get to free range all day, it's only a small garden but they seem to have found all the places that have tasty bugs to eat and the lawn is long and seedy and full of tasty weeds! Still just one egg and not every day from the big girls but the minichas haven't gone broody so far so there are some from them as well and all the eggs seem to have good shells.

~ Annie

Two little kids, one big one and two grandchildrenSpongebob the cat on steroids and Gus who doesn't like him; silly Kittles and sensible Ragslovely bantam girl Phoebeand retired working girls: Florence, Miss McCluck and Mrs Brown

We've been at my partner's house for a couple of months now and I've found a lovely smallholding that we're hopefully buying. I'm currently waiting for searches and survey which I'm expecting to throw up further things to look into. And all was going well with the chickens in the garden here until this afternoon.

I'd just got back from shopping and my partner had just got in from work and we realised that the chickens weren't running round the garden and it was a bit early for them to be in bed. So I ran down to the shed and found the big girls huddled in their cat basket nestbox and Phoebe perched on top of a pile of boxes. No sign of Angel. We peered under and behind everything and then went round the garden and my daughter found her body by the back wall of the house where there's a dead end with high walls as the garden slopes down steeply. She must have been cornered and unable to fly high enough to get away.

We discovered that one of the boards that we'd nailed over the back gate was loosely balanced there so we think that a dog got in and the owner had tried to put the board back afterwards. My partner feels bad because he's not good at DIY so maybe he didn't fix it securely enough.

I've briefly checked the other girls and couldn't see any injuries but I'll have a better look tomorrow when they're not so stressed out. The long term problem is going to be that now I only have one bantam who isn't accepted by the big girls so I don't know how poor Phoebe is going to cope :(

~ Annie

Two little kids, one big one and two grandchildrenSpongebob the cat on steroids and Gus who doesn't like him; silly Kittles and sensible Ragslovely bantam girl Phoebeand retired working girls: Florence, Miss McCluck and Mrs Brown

I hope your husband isn't blaming himself too much. I would say it's the owner who had his/her dog off the lead and uncontrolled, and who walked away knowing what had happened Blame them, not yourselves - you have both given your girls a wonderful life and a safe, secure space notwithstanding idiot dog owners.

Phoebe will be fine, but perhaps time to be thinking about getting more tiny henpals for her? If she can't mix with the big girls.

Meant to say, you might have some upset with laying, maybe softies and the like with the shock. Keep an eye on them and maybe put a tonic in their water, or some sugar water if any seem to be showing signs of shock. And yes, check for signs of injury in case they have cuts or bites etc.

You are lucky - as sad as it is to say - that more damange wasn't done.

Thank you. The big girls seem pretty much back to normal but yesterday's egg (the only big layer is Mrs Brown) had a line round the middle, presumably from the moment of the shock.

Phoebe looks very sorry for herself. I don't think she came down from her shelf at all yesterday. There's food and water up there by the nestbox and she was eating a bit. Doesn't help that she's moulting handfuls at the moment so probably not feeling very good as well.

I think I shall wait until we move to the smallholding before getting any more chickens, perhaps an assortment of sizes to try and get a more integrated flock. I will need to find out about the fox situation up there first though.

~ Annie

Two little kids, one big one and two grandchildrenSpongebob the cat on steroids and Gus who doesn't like him; silly Kittles and sensible Ragslovely bantam girl Phoebeand retired working girls: Florence, Miss McCluck and Mrs Brown